Hemiramphidae, Gill, 1859

Zainal Abidin, Danial Hariz, Lavoué, Sébastien, Mohd Abu Hassan Alshari, Norli Fauzani, Mohd. Nor, Siti Azizah, A. Rahim, Masazurah & Mohammed Akib, Noor Adelyna, 2021, Ichthyofauna of Sungai Merbok Mangrove Forest Reserve, northwest Peninsular Malaysia, and its adjacent marine waters, Check List 17 (2), pp. 601-631 : 619

Family Hemiramphidae

Hyporhamphus dussumieri (Valenciennes, 1847) Material examined. MALAYSIA • 1, 235 mm TL; Kedah State, Kuala Kedah, Kuala Muda Whispering Market ; 05.578°N, 100.341°E; 6 Dec. 2018; Danial H. Zainal Abidin, Norli F.M.A.H. Alshari leg.; USMFC (105) 00002 .

Identification. Maximum TL (from the upper jaw tip) reported about 30 cm. Body elongate and rounded in cross section, with elongated lower jaw less than 1.5 times in head length; short triangular upper jaw with pointed tip; caudal fin unevenly forked (lower lobe about 25% lon- ger than upper lobe); gill rakers on first gill arch 36 to 47; body flanks and belly silver, back greenish/greyish; yel- lowish silver stripe on mid-lateral body.

Within the Merbok River estuary, the halfbeak genus, Hyporamphus , is distinguishable from the viviparous halfbeak genera Dermogenys and Zenarchopterus (family Zenarchopteridae ) by having the caudal fin unevenly forked (vs. rounded).

Hyporhamphus dussumieri can be separated from Hyporhamphus quoyi (Valenciennes, 1847) by its proportionally longer lower jaw (contained <5 times in SL) and the pointed tip of its upper jaw, among other characteristics. Hyporhamphus dussumieri is a coastal species, sporadically frequenting estuaries. Tongnunui et al. (2002) reported two different species of Hyporhamphus , Hyporhamphus affinis (Günther, 1866) and Hyporhamphus limbatus (Valenciennes, 1847) .